


look how they shine for you

by gearyoak



Series: bluepulse week 2017 [1]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 17:12:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12237177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gearyoak/pseuds/gearyoak
Summary: “Are the pictures in the stars real?”-Written for Bluepulse Week 2017. Day One: Stargazing.





	look how they shine for you

**Author's Note:**

> after like 800 years of not writing, I'm back!! that being said, I'm so out of practice it isn't even funny. kinda using this event to help me get back into the writing groove, and when I get it back who knows wtf I'm gonna do with it lmao
> 
> hope you at least enjoy it

“Hey, I’ve got a question.” He said it as soon as he had skidded to a stop, knowing that the other could hear him. Besides his own footsteps, the humming of wings, and the slight rush of wind, the rooftops of Central City were quiet at night.

Blue Beetle landed lightly on the barrier that separated Kid Flash from a 16 story drop, his head cocked to the side in a silent cue to continue.

The younger turned his attention toward the sky, pushing his goggles up over his brow and squinting his eyes. “Are the pictures in the stars real?” He didn’t have to see Jaime’s face to know that his question drew a confused frown from him. “There was this old guy, when I was younger. He talked about the stars a lot, said stuff like gods put them there and that people used them for direction, which, y’know, is believable but the god thing?” He scoffed here. “I don’t know about that one and I’ve never seen any pictures - and trust me, I’ve looked for a long time because where I come from, there’s not a lot of chances to see the stars and by ‘not a lot’ I mean none at all.”

Bart waited patiently, watching Jaime absorb the information he was given and make sense of it as fast as he could - which was still slow, but he was going to be polite about this. Finally, after maybe thirty seconds - _thirty years_ \- of silence, Jaime asked, “Are you talking about constellations?”

“ _Yeah_ ,” he replied, his expression brightening, because, _yes_ , that sounded familiar.

“They’re not really pictures,” the older told him. “I mean, I guess they could be? I think they’re just kind of a connect-the-dots type of thing and people would make pictures out of those.”

“For what?”

“Just stories and stuff, I guess,” Jaime said with a shrug, painfully aware of how lame and unsure it sounded.

“Crash,” Bart said anyway. “Do you know any?”

“Just the common ones.”

“Show me.”

They both look back to the stars, Jaime scanning the horizon for a second before pointing up. “Okay, so you see that one really bright star right there?”

Bart hops up onto the barrier to stand with the taller boy. He leaned close and fit his head just under the Jaime’s chin, presumably to gain the closest thing to the other’s perspective of the sky. Jaime, too used to the speedster’s disregard for personal space, only shifted so they fit together easier.

“I think that’s the North Star, and those three stars next to it make the handle to the Little Dipper.”

He felt Bart tilt his head further to the right, auburn hair brushing against his chin. “The saucepan lookin’ thing?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh. What’s sauce pan’s deal?”

“I don’t actually know the story behind it.”

“Oh. Well, that’s okay, it’s doing great.”

Jaime nodded in agreement, then turned their attention a little to the left. “There’s another one right there, they’re connected by the North Star. It’s bigger.”

“What’s that one called?”

“Big Dipper.”

Bart laughed. “Keep it simple, I like that.”

He went quiet, and Jaime wondered if he was waiting for him to continue pointing out other patterns. He didn’t know any more, but the silence felt unnatural and he didn’t know how to break it - or knew if he even should. Instead of internally debating, he leaned further into Bart and wondered what it must have been like to see the stars for the first time.

“We never actually figured out why the sky was full of dust. Did you know that?” Jaime shook his head. “Yeah. When I say ‘not in the history books’ I don’t actually mean history books, we just learned from each other so a lot of stuff I know might not even be true but so far it’s held up. Except the whales, but I won’t go into that. Anyway, yeah, no one knew the exact reason, just knew it was the Reach that did it. Was it intentional? A happy accident that made us more reliant on them? Easier to control? Who knows. No stable ecosystem, no food, no stars. That’s just how it was and we got used to it. No chance of fixing it then, so why worry? But you guys?” He laughed incredulously, spreading his arms wide and almost knocking Jaime in the nose with his elbow. “ _Look_ at this! You’ve got star saucepans! You guys even get rain! And do you know how many cornfields I’ve ran through this month? Just this month!”

There was a smile on his face, Bart’s excitement always having a contagious effect, but Jaime still felt like he had to ask, “You okay, _hermano_?”

“Yeah,” came the reply, breathless. His eyes were as wide as his grin, like he was just realizing he was in awe of the entire world. “So okay. Totally crash. Blue, _Jaime_.” Bart spun around and gripped the other’s hand tightly. The way his expression turned serious would have given Jaime whiplash months ago, but now he stared into green eyes steadily, waiting. “Jaime. I saved the entire world and I haven’t even seen _half_ of it. We could be looking at the stars in Canada right now! Or _Brazil_!”

“The stars are the same in Brazil,” Jaime informed him. Still, the armor along his back shifted until wings formed tall behind his shoulders.

Kid Flash saw this and grinned, lowering his goggles back over his eyes. “Yeah, so are we, the saucepans of Earth - doesn’t stop it from being _Brazil_ , though, Blue.” He squeezes Blue Beetle’s hand before he lets go. “C’mon, I bet we can get there and back before midnight.”

Without another word, he’s off, a blur of red and yellow racing down the side of the building and then a streak dodging traffic.

Jaime sighed before he took off, more fond than exasperated, and followed from the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> the usual spiel, you see anything I missed in the editing stage, don't hesitate to let me know. if something needs tagged, also let me know about that.
> 
> thanks for reading!


End file.
